Bella's Wall

A lovely lady whom we attend worship with finds vintage handkerchiefs with hand embroidery work on them and adds lace to them. I love that she builds on someone else's art. And gives them another life. She is also nice enough to give them to people when she is done. They are so pretty that I told her I was going to frame the one she gave me. So the next week she brought me even  more (queue excitement!)
I grabbed this shadow box frame at ikea when we went last year for this project and finally found the time to get this project done.
It required figuring out how to fit them all in and show off the lace. And then stitching them each onto the backing -of course now I am wishing I had stitched more, but I figured I would show you anyway since more then likely it will take me another year to get it taken apart again...

I love looking at it. Wouldn't this be fun to do with family pieces?

I added it to Bella's room for now. 

I just realized her room already looks different from this again... oh well it's a semi updated picture!!! 

Art Board Tutorial

I just thought I would give you guys a brief run down/source list on how we made the Art Board in Micah's room.... just in case anyone wants to make one of their own.

I thought this project up when we were in the process of moving and had this huge 4'x8' pegboard that once hung in our garage. We either needed to store or get rid it, as we don't have a garage in our new place. Really it was just too nice of a piece to get rid of. Uber made it with molding that I can't seem to locate more of - it's basically a picture frame molding that used to be sold at building supply stores... not sure what it's called or why no one here seems to carry it any longer. 

Mom bought the Martha Stewart Organizing Magazine to get us ready for spring ... and my move... and in it her people used a peg board in a kids bathroom which made me think how awesome it would be in a kids room.    

So we started with this already built frame. 

From Ikea we picked up:

The shelf - EKBY JÄRPEN/ EKBY BJÄRNUM - in the 7 1/2" depth

Bins - RATIONELL

Rail- GRUNDTAL

Paper - MÅLA

I just played with the heights for these until I was happy with the placement. Then we centered them and used toggle bolts to hold the the shelf and rail in place. 

The Grundtal Rail has screws on the ends of the bar so when the paper needs to be replaced we can just undo those and slide on a new roll. 

The bins are all held on by small pegboard hooks- this way they can be rearranged in the future if the supplies being stored need more space. 

The sheet metal was a bit more tricky- home improvement stores didn't carry a large enough piece so luckily Mum deals with First Coast Sheet Metal (no website but you could look them up if your local. I would recommend them) through work, so she ordered a custom piece cut to the exact size I needed with rolled edges- I am sure you could just look up a company in the phone book and have the same thing done. It was relatively inexpensive - around $40 which if you price out the smaller pieces sold in Home Depot or Lowes you would be up over that price and would still have to figure out how to cut it yourself.

I'm sure they could have drilled holes for us but I am not that on my game so Uber had to do it when I got the metal home and marked the back. 

He used a nail punch to dent the metal where he would be drilling

And then slowly gauged up with the drill bits 

The tear bar is a short piece of aluminum that I found in the metal section at Lowes.

The sheet metal and tear bar were all secured with a bolt on the front and a washer and nut on the back. 

The sheet metal serves a couple of purposes- smooth drawing surface, magnet board and can also be used as a white board. 

I used my silhouette machine to make these chalkboard vinyl labels (since I had vinyl on hand from the stair numbers) but Martha Stewart sells the same thing at Staples. I used a chalk pin to write on the labels so they can be redone in the future.

 And of course don't forget to secure the board to the wall so you don't have to worry about it falling over on anyone. We have ours leaning too - the bottom is about 6 inches out from the wall. 

I can not express to you how much I LOVE this project. It's really fun and I think it will grow with him. I have all sort of fun ideas for magnets!!

And no post about the boys room is complete without a picture of the boy himself- his dad taught him how the drill works.... not really something I appreciate....he is crazy about tools

Should an 19 month old be able to lift a drill? 

Well he can and he is very proud of himself.

Sweet E Cake

I know 3 times in one week and it's only wednesday!! (Don't expect this to keep up!)

Another logo I have been working on. I actually designed it back in December-January but it had been put on the back burner until this week. It is for a friend in Indiana who is starting up a little cake business from home. I LOOOVVVVEEEE the name.
Here's it with a little pop of color... I just sent this version along for fun but I think it's growing on me.

I loved getting the opportunity to play with a logo that is not crafting related. Or I guess a better way to put it is I loved getting the chance to play with a logo that was food related. Makes me want to open a bakery... or on second thought maybe just visit one... hahaha.

And on a complete side note I am hanging out on our patio right now writing this post and I just looked over to see a cardinal hoping around my wanna be garden. I am SO happy summer is finally here and though I am sure it will be a long hot 6 months at the moment I am eating up every minute of outside time I can get!

For my Cousin

Look I can still craft!

I was supposed to teach my cousin how to do freezer paper stenciling when she was here but we sort of ran out of time doing things like visiting the beach and shopping instead. So I promised her I would make her a shirt and send it later.

She decided she wanted an owl so I drew up the pattern the last night she was here (while she was doing homework...ahem) and ended up cutting out two stencils at once since I had a feeling I would never want to go through the trouble a second time (at least I am learning). So I made one for me and one for her. They aren't exactly the same though just roughly.

The branch wraps around to the back of the shirt. I did mine in brown ink. My shirt had more ribbing then I realized so there is some splitting going on. I ended up digging the look though so I decided not to fix it and just let it do it's thing.

Corrie choose a pink shirt so I used black ink on her's.

I am really stoked with the design.

Hopefully she likes it! Hopefully I get it in the mail soon!!

And for all of you who don't live near the beach here is a dolphin picture for you from the beach this weekend, we are having gorgeous weather!! The dolphin is on the right. I think it's a bird on the left. I wish I had brought a better camera with me but this will have to do! I hope you are all enjoying your versions of spring.

Somethings Fishy...

Another pillow completed! I actually finished this at the beginning of the week but the sun hasn't been cooperating with my schedule so today I just made due with the flash... sorry!

I am really stoked with him. I used different colors of felt on him than the last time and made him more red and blue... I am not sure which one I like more, they both strike me for different reasons. But the other one is already at it's new home so I guess it doesn't matter!

This one is done on a light blue linen and is 18x18" (I stuffed a 20" insert into him) the felt is 100% wool

I am not sure what I am going to do with him... probably keep him... but I may get a wild hair and list him in the shop to see if he sells.... and then be more then happy to keep him if he doesn't... lol.

I have been trying to wipe out old projects that have been collecting dust around the house... which means a little lack of enthusiasm around here and in turn less things completed to show you!

My older brother is flying in tonight so fair warning I might disappear for a little while...again.

This one won't die on you... I promise.

It's a Goldfish!!! And I LOVE HIM!!

He's handpainted with amazing 100% wool felt hand sewn (of course). It kills me to cut into this felt it is so beautiful. But he is totally worth it!

He's for one of my small friends. I hope he likes him...he apparently likes fish... If not I may steal him back and hope he doesn't remember...because some day he will be bigger than me! (the boy not the fish)

I am already working on another one... who knows where it will go... maybe in the shop?!

Shirts!

Amanda was totally up for some crafting while she was here so I taught her how to do freezer paper stenciling and we even got her all set up so she can continue when she gets back to her dorm!
We picked up some plain T's on Friday and she got busy with some sparrow designs.
How cute is that?

Next she went for a peacock! Which she was a little intimidated by but I think she did a marvelous job! What do you think?

I love the butt feathers!!!

I can't wait to see what she does with her new skills!!

While she was busy with her exact-o knife I made her a logo from some of her drawings. I have decided that everyone needs a logo!

Saturday we got the tree up and decorated. The house is decidedly more festive! I love Christmas lights!

I haven't added much to the tree since last year but I did manage to make up some garland. Its from the shell lamp I took apart last year to make my crystal lamp. I couldn't see throwing all the shells out so I kept them in a bag and finally realized they would be great for garland on the tree. They are perfect... now I just need more shells!

Oh and for a black Friday deal... Amanda got some wonderful deals but this is all I came home with (well for me anyway)!!

They're from Urban Outfitters .... you just can't resist this kind of awesomeness on sale! These suckers are HEAVY and around 3 inches tall. I just with they had done them in realistic colors.

Alright well I am off. Fair warning I may possibly disapear for a while again!